By accessing and using our websites or other services, you are agreeing to the terms of this policy and our privacy policy.

We may update this cookie policy from time to time and will post any changes on our website so it's a good idea to come back occasionally and read through it again.

What are cookies?

Cookies are small files of letters and numbers. These files are either stored in the memory of your computer or other device such as mobile phones or tablet devices (these cookies are generally known as session cookies) or are placed on the hard drive of your device (generally known as persistent cookies).

Cookies are created when you visit a website that uses cookies. Cookies are commonly used by websites to help the user’s browsing experience and provide more information about the user’s experience and interests. This information is generally used to make content, services and advertising more relevant and useful during future visits.

For more details about cookies and details of how to delete and disable cookies you can visit www.aboutcookies.org and also see our section on more information and turning cookies off below.

How do we use cookies?

Our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our websites and to provide increased functionality when you are using our websites. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our websites and also allows us to improve our websites and our services.

Unless you have adjusted your browser settings to refuse cookies, our systems will issue cookies as soon you visit our websites or access other services. If you have switched off cookies then some of the functionality of our services may not be available to you.

The cookies that we use only collect anonymous information to optimise our services, and do not collect personal information.

Please note that not all the cookies on our sites are set by us. Please see the section below on third party cookies.

What cookies do we use?

The cookies on our websites generally fall into the category of functional and analytical cookies.

Functional and analytical cookies

a. Analytical cookies

Analytical cookies allow us to recognise and to count the number of visitors to our website, to see how visitors move around the website when they are using it and to record which content viewers view and are interested in. This helps us to determine how frequently particular pages and advertisements are visited and to determine the most popular areas of our website and/or services. This helps us to improve the service which we offer to you by helping us make sure our users are finding the information they are looking for, by providing anonymised demographic data to third parties in order to target advertising more appropriately to you, and by tracking the success of advertising campaigns on our website.

b. Functional cookies

Functional cookies relate to the functionality of our websites and allow us to improve the service we offer to you through our websites, for example:

• by remembering that you have signed up to view a particular type of content;• by allowing you to carry information across pages of our website to avoid you having to re-enter information;• to allow you to access stored information if you have registered with us;• by recognising your preferences when you return to our website(s);• by enabling us to serve the appropriate regionalised service relevant to your location; or• by ensuring that any adverts which you view on our website are not repeated within a short space of time.

c. What functional and analytical cookies do we use?

We have set out below the main functional and analytical cookies that we use:

Name of Cookie What does it do?

SessionID This ties the web browser to the member record so that we can identify who you are (and that you are logged in).

We also use functional and analytical cookies which are operated on our behalf by the organisations listed below to help us deliver our services.

Organisation setting the cookie Name of cookie What does it do? How to reject/delete these cookies?

Google Analytics

Our website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics tool which uses cookies to help the website analyse how users use the website. The information generated by the cookies about your use of the website and your current IP-address will be transmitted by your browser and will be stored by Google on servers in the United States and other countries. Google will use this information on our behalf to evaluate your use of the website, compile reports on website activity and provide us with other services relating to website activity and internet usage. The UP address collected through Google Analytics will not be associated with any other data held by Google. _utma This cookie helps us determine the number of unique visitors to our website. This cookie expires when you end your session.

_utmz This cookie helps us determine the referral method for people visiting our website. This helps us to analyse the traffic arriving at our website and to determine which are the most popular routes (e.g. direct, search engine search, email link). This cookie expires after 6 months.

_utmb We use this Google Analytics cookie to help us to record the length of individual sessions from our users on our website. Each time you move to a new page within our website within 30 minutes of arriving the cookie updates so that we know that you are still actively using our website within a single session. These cookie expires when a user pauses for longer than 30 minutes on a single page of our website.

_utmx etc We use this Google Analytics cookie to generate management information, monitor traffic patterns and perform usability tests. The data is collected anonymously and aggregated. This cookie expires when you close your browser.

When do our cookies expire?

Except for essential cookies, most of the cookies on our websites expire at the end of your current session on our website.

Where can I find more information, and how do I turn cookies off or delete cookies?

Find out more about cookies including how to disable/enable and delete them by at the following website www.aboutcookies.org.

You can block most cookies by activating the setting on your browser that allows you to refuse the setting of all or some cookies. However, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including essential cookies) you may not be able to access all or parts of the website, or you may experience reduced functionality when accessing certain services. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies as soon you visit our website.